The view that “inflation is not only desirable in its own right. It’s the absolute foundation of sustained growth in the economy and of living standards”1 is the generally accepted one among the economic commentariat. We have basically two positions here: The first one is the nonsensical belief that a ‘modest’ rate of inflation is necessary to promote spending and investment. Therefore, without this rate of inflation prices would continually fall which in turn would curb spending and investment and so depress economic activity. (This argument is also used to promote the idea of a stable price level). But it is absurd to assume that any rate of inflation can fuel economic growth, unless one believes in the ‘beneficial effects’ of “forced saving”, which some people do.

Jeremy Bentham was, I believe, the first economist to outline the forced saving doctrine (the process of using inflation to restrict consumption in order to raise the rate of capital accumulation) which he called “Forced Frugality”2. Thomas Malthus, a contemporary, pointed out the dangers and injustice of “forced savings”3. Henry Thornton damned the process as an “injustice”4. John Stuart Mill described the process as one of “forced accumulation” and condemned it with the statement that accumulating capital by this means “is no palliation of its iniquity”5. Continue reading The idea that inflation can drive economic growth exposed as rubbish by economic history→

It looks like Steve Kates will never get it right on the Great Depression. Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian wrote a paper blaming Roosevelt’s economic policies for keeping America in depression. Any genuinely informed and honest person would have to agree with them, at least in principle. Now Kates quoted from an articleon the work of these two economists that ended with the following quote from Cole:

The fact that the Depression dragged on for years convinced generations of economists and policy-makers that capitalism could not be trusted to recover from depressions and that significant government intervention was required to achieve good outcomes… Ironically, our work shows that the recovery would have been very rapid had the government not intervened.

Steve Kates took immediate umbrage with this view, asserting that “what it doesn’t do is put the blame on public spending which is where the blame truly belongs.” Now there is a fundamental error in Ohanian and Cole’s work but it has nothing to do with public spending, an issue about which Steve Kates is utterly wrong. We get the same nonsense from Sinclair Davidson and Julie Novak who argue that Australia’s recovery from the Great Depression was due to cuts in public spending plus interest rate reductions and devaluation. Continue reading Steve Kates gets it badly wrong on Roosevelt, the Great Depression and government spending→

Matildapublished a hit job on Professor Spurr written by Wendy Bacon and Chris Graham. Motivated by ideological-driven spite this pair based their piece on private emails by Professor Spurr that had been illegally obtained. This behaviour would not surprise anyone with knowledge of Wendy Bacon’s lack of ethics. Like all dogmatic leftists she thinks ethical behaviour is for the shmucks, meaning those who disagree with her unthinking leftism.

Wendy Bacon refers to herself as an “investigative journalist who is also a political activist”. That this is an oxymoron never occurred to her. She was a leftwing activist, and still is, not a real journalist. And like all of these phony journalists she was prepared to lie and cheat to advance a leftwing agenda. This paragon of virtue publically admitted (The Australian 24 January 1999) that Jim McClelland confessed to her and others that Lionel Murphy, Labor Party hero and High Court Judge, had been corrupt. Not only that, McClelland, who had been a prominent member of the Labor Party, also confessed to perjuring himself at Murphy’s trial thus securing Murphy’s acquittal. Now let us try to comprehend the full import of what Wendy Bacon did. Continue reading Wendy Bacon, Professor Spurr and media corruption→

In January 2007 Malcolm Turnbull, the man who would be prime minister, was appointed Environment Minister. He immediately supported the destructive policy of a 20 per cent renewable target for 2020. Needless to say, he was a fervent supporter of an equally destructive carbon tax. In his arrogance he saw fit to attack consumer choice by forcing Australians to buy expensive compact fluorescent lights in order to satisfy his sense of moral and intellectual superiority and statist mentality. To put it bluntly: Turnbull is an ignorant, egotistical and destructive man. Continue reading Economics, natural resources, economic growth and Malcolm Turnbull’s ignorance and conceit→

I am frequently asked why free-market thinking in Australia doesn’t seem to be making any headway against the statist thinking. Needless to say, these people also expressed considerable disappointment in Tony Abbott’s economic record, which brings me to the right-wing’s sorry record. No serious scientist ever disconnects from first principles, and the same should go for economists. Unfortunately, first principles are something that our self-appointed advocates of the free market seem incapable of applying, particularly when it comes to the pricing of labour. And this is why, after more than 30 years of intellectual grandstanding, they have failed dismally to persuade the great majority of Australians that the effective minimum wage destroys jobs. Continue reading The minimum wage and defending the free market→

A reader directed me to an article in The Atlanticthat purported to explain Why Economics Is Dead Wrong About How We Make Choices. Being aware of the anti-market prejudices of so-called journalists I expected the worse: my expectations were not confounded. Derek Thompson, the author of this little masterpiece, tells his readers that “[t]he old economic theory of consumers says that ‘people should relish choice’.” Bulldust. Economics has never said any such thing. The extent to which individuals should or should not “relish choice” is a matter for them to decide. Having displayed his ignorance of classical economic thought he then approvingly quoted Daniel McFadden who states: Continue reading To argue that consumers are not rational is to argue for more state control→

Now for some light entertainment. A number of leftists absolutely adore Ross Gittins (economics editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and an economic columnist for The Age). While these leftists rhapsodise over Mr Gittins’ unparalleled grasp of economics I find myself less than impressed with his opinions.

So how good is Gittins? On reflection, that should read: Just how bad is Gittins? Last July he revealed his deep understanding of economics in an article in which he basically agreed with certain so-called economists that there is no direct link with the minimum wage and the unemployment rate of marginal labour1. (Minimum wage rises don’t lift unemployment, analysts agree, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 July 2014). However, this post is not about Gittins’ failure to understand what is happening in the field of economics with respect to the minimum wage but his history of sloppy economic reasoning, of which the aforementioned article is one of his most recent examples. Continue reading Economic growth, the minimum wage and sloppy economic thinking→

Nottrampis posted a comment criticising my attack on Keynesianism. The following is my response. It is not meant to be a rebuttal but more of an outline of my views. In the very near future I shall expand in far greater detail on each of my points.

Now where to begin:

1. Demand springs from production, not the other way round, a fact that is patently clear in a barter economy. Of course, if it were a simple case of demand bringing fourth production then poverty would never be a problem. Keep on increasing ‘demand’ and eventually you will make everyone as rich as Warren Buffett. Continue reading More Keynesian fallacies and the Great Depression→

I have been asked a number of times what the hell is wrong with Tony Abbott. The answer is simple: The same thing that is wrong with the Liberal Party. The Liberals are still largely governed by statist thinking and Keynesian economics. It is a party without a grasp of sound economic theory, any knowledge of the history of economic thought and thoroughly ignorant of economic history. James Guest, former Liberal MP, is a perfect and depressing example of this dangerous mixture of sanctimonious witlessness.